


to the fireflies' forest

by hirokiyuu, yoongioppa



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Hotarubi no Mori e AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2020-06-27 22:50:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19799377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hirokiyuu/pseuds/hirokiyuu, https://archiveofourown.org/users/yoongioppa/pseuds/yoongioppa
Summary: Two takes on a Hotarubi no Mori e AU.Ch1:Shuu met the stranger the August before he turned nine, still wet from when he'd fallen in the river.[Collab Entry for Enstars Shipping Olympics 2019]





	1. ever so slightly, daily and nightly

**Author's Note:**

> ch title from adventure time's [everything stays](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K25I8gL5Y3U)
> 
> as usual, all my love to almo for the beta and to apple for proofreading <3 and a huge thanks to the shnz eso crew for all the encouragement!!! <3

“You can’t touch anyone?”

The stranger reached up and tilted the mask off his mouth, and smiled. Something about it struck Shuu straight to his core; nearly nine years old and shivering from the damp, the stranger’s coat wrapped around him, he knew with a strange and terrible certainty that this exact moment was never going to leave him. “That’s right,” the stranger said, voice soft and gentle and a little sad. “I can’t, ever, or I’ll die.”

Shuu, in general, was not fond of touch. Classmates’ pokes, his siblings’ tickles, the tight sweeping hugs his mother tried to pull him into -- he always squirmed away from those, scowling and upset. But Kiryuu-san’s gentle hands and Ryuu-kun’s palms wrapped around his were things he’d come to treasure, and a life without those seemed unfathomable. “That’s….”

“It’s not so bad,” the stranger said, smile going a little crooked. “Besides, I’m not alone.” He reached out a hand; one of the fireflies flitting around him landed on an outstretched finger. “The forest keeps me company.”

“But aren’t you lonely?” Shuu said. The tears he’d been shedding earlier when he’d fallen into the river felt silly and childish with every word out of the stranger’s mouth. His hair was already dry in the evening heat. “Without any people?”

The stranger paused. His pink lips had parted, hesitation clutched in every line around it. “I….” A huff of laughter, a tilt of his head. He reached up, tugged a lock of blond hair. “Maybe sometimes,” he said, a little quiet. The firefly drifted from his hand.

“Then I’ll come visit you again,” Shuu said. His hands clutched the thin patterned fabric a little closer; he tilted his chin up and said, “We visit here every summer and New Years, too, so I’ll be back then, and I’ll come visit you. Promise.”

The stranger was silent for a moment, and then a smile curled up again, warmth resting cradled in the curve of his mouth. “Okay,” he said, gently. “I’ll be here in winter, then. If it’s not too cold, you can come see me.”

“I will,” Shuu said. Something about the way the stranger had spoken reminded him of his teachers, who always patted his head a little absently whenever he started talking about his sewing or all the things he was going to make in the future. He stood up, and reached out, and thrust the coat back at the stranger. “I  _ will.” _

The stranger’s smile was wider than before. “I’ll see you then,” he said, taking the coat from Shuu. It settled on his shoulders in a delicate flutter, the softest shade of blue that Shuu had ever seen. “You should get home, though, and change out of those wet clothes.”

Shuu nodded, but before the stranger turned to go he reached out and tugged on the stranger’s sleeve, careful to avoid his bare hand. “Wait,” he said, when the stranger turned. “I’m Shuu. What’s your name?”

Ethereal, glowing, silhouetted by fireflies in the dim light, the stranger finally lifted the rest of the mask off his face and looked at Shuu with warm red eyes. “I’m Nazuna,” he said. “I’ll see you in December, Shuu.”

Nazuna. Nazuna, Nazuna, Nazuna. Shuu mouthed it to himself every day; traced the characters for it on his palm the whole train ride home, found himself writing it in the margins of notebooks and on the corners of worksheets. For months he whispered it to himself, as the last of the cicadas died, as the leaves fell from trees, as snow blanketed the ground. Nazuna. Nazuna.

“Nazuna.”

Nazuna turned. He was dressed as he had been in summer: light sleeves, porcelain mask, that coat he’d once wrapped around Shuu draped over his shoulders. When he moved his feet made no sound in the snow.

“Shuu,” he said, and when he lifted his mask his smile had lit up his whole face.

* * *

Seasons passed. Shuu grew taller, and taller, and taller, and Nazuna remained exactly the same. Four and a half years after their first meeting, Nazuna slipped off his mask to try the osechi Shuu had smuggled out of his grandparents’ house, and Shuu was struck by a strange and terrible wanting, one he couldn’t quite put a name to.

It didn’t matter. In all ways, physical and otherwise, Nazuna was untouchable. Just being with him -- watching the light flicker off the lines of his face, luxuriating in the sound of his laughter, watching the flutter of his delicate wrists -- just that was enough to leave Shuu’s heart full to bursting. Every time he thought his feelings couldn’t possibly be any stronger, he would see Nazuna again, and the thing in his heart would grow once more.

Shuu missed him when they were apart, which was often. They only met three weeks of the year, after all: two in August, speaking loud enough to be heard over the weeping cicadas, and one in January, when the cold left Shuu’s ears pink as his hair. Twice Shuu had managed to sneak out to watch the first sunrise of the year with Nazuna, but together or apart his wish was always the same:  _ I want to be with him. _

“You never get tired of coming out here,” Nazuna said, once, the summer that Shuu was sixteen. That year had been hotter than most, but even ice cream and air conditioning hadn’t been enough to keep Shuu indoors, not when he could sit with his feet in the river and watch water run over Nazuna’s perfect toes.

“Of course not,” Shuu said, tilting his head up with a sniff. Nazuna’s mask was resting on the side of his head, red eyes watching Shuu from beneath delicate blond eyelashes. “The only thing of worth in this place is you.”

Nazuna laughed at that. The trees left the light falling on him like stardust, gold dappling the lines of his jaw. “You’re so ridiculous.”

“I’m only telling the truth.”

A splash of water; Shuu yelped and tilted back on instinct, flailing as he tipped over. Twigs in his hair, dirt on his clothes, laughter in his ears, Shuu watched the leaves above catch in the faintest possible breeze and thought to himself,  _ Oh, I’m in love.  _ It was not a surprise. He’d known for years. It was just that the word had never come knocking before.

Nothing changed. Shuu spent the school year waiting for holidays, and always slipped out of his grandparent’s house the day he arrived. “Are we ever going to meet your girlfriend?” his sister asked once, Shuu’s foot already halfway out the door. Her laughter had followed him through the forest and the crunching snow, and the one good thing was that the cold leant an easy excuse for the pinking of his cheeks.

By then Shuu stood much taller than Nazuna. Sometimes as they walked together he would find himself distracted watching the way gold hair caught the light, the slope of Nazuna’s nose from above. The center of his world stood condensed at one hundred and sixty centimeters.

Sometimes, sometimes, Nazuna would catch the edge of Shuu’s sleeve. Closeness without contact, affection without touch, they spoke about everything and nothing, and ever so often their elbows would bump. One night in late August they lay in a clearing, stars shimmering overhead, and for the first time in his life Shuu laid bare all the things he’d felt when Kiryuu-san had died. The next winter they’d been sitting side by side on a bench, knees touching, and Nazuna had whispered, quietly, about how many times he’d watched strangers go by, silently, never speaking to them. How lonely it was, to live like this.

Shuu never wanted him to be lonely again.

The winter after he turned twenty, he watched the first sunset of the year with Nazuna for the third time in his life. He made his same wish, eyes closed to the light, and when he opened them he saw Nazuna watching him, a soft and quiet expression on his face. When he saw Shuu looking back he smiled.

“So, actually,” Nazuna said, “I had a question to ask you. About tomorrow. Um.” He reached up, pulled his mask down. He hadn’t worn it like this in years, at this point. The tips of his ears had gone pink. By now Shuu knew that Nazuna never felt the cold. “So there’s a festival,” he said, “and it’s mostly for spirits, but I know humans show up sometimes too, and I was wondering if you’d maybe, um, want to --”

Shuu wore his best hakama . They’d brought it to show his grandparents before Coming of Age Day in two weeks; the thick fabric wasn’t made for the forest at all but it emphasized the lines of his shoulders and the set of his jaw, and when Nazuna saw him he stopped and stared so long Shuu began to fidget as if he were still nine years old and seeing this person for the very first time. “What,” he finally snapped, and Nazuna laughed, breathlessly.

“You look really….” He reached up, pulled off his mask. His cheeks were red; his eyes kept darting up and down Shuu. Nazuna laughed again, shook his head, and when he met Shuu’s eyes he was practically glowing. “You look good, Shuu.”

They took off together through the snow, leaving behind a single set of footprints as they went. Nazuna at his side in the blinding snow, his hand clasped on Shuu’s sleeve, Shuu walked and walked and walked and wished this moment would never end. 

* * *

The boy was running off but the damage was already done. Nazuna’s skin had begun to glow, specks of light drifting off as fireflies, and for a moment they looked at each other, eyes wide -- and then before Shuu could even speak Nazuna was close, closer than he’d ever been, pressed with his face against Shuu’s chest.. “Shuu,” he said, his hands snaking around to clutch at the fabric of Shuu’s heavy winter kimono. “Shuu.”

“Nazuna,” Shuu said. His head was full of white noise -- but for the first time in his life Nazuna was  _ touching  _ him, warm and lovely and soft and everything Shuu’d ever wanted. It was something deeper than instinct that had Shuu clutching back. Gravity, perhaps. Fate. Love.

Their bodies must have been made for this moment, Shuu thought. It was the only explanation he could think of for how perfectly Nazuna fit in his arms. His lips rested at Nazuna’s temples; he laid a kiss there without even a thought, and in his arms Nazuna laughed, delighted. “Shuu!” he said, and his smile was glowing from more than joy.

A hand reached up, pressed against Shuu’s jaw. Shuu leaned into it. “Your skin is so soft,” Nazuna said, another laugh bubbling warm and sweet out of him. “I’m jealous!”

There were calluses on Nazuna’s hands; they’d climbed trees together once, and Nazuna had laughed just as sweetly from his perch at the top as he’d watched Shuu fall to the ground below. That was what Shuu thought of, now, smiling wordlessly down at the person in his arms, at the person he loved, at the person he couldn’t imagine not --

“You know,” Nazuna said, and his other hand had come up to cradle Shuu’s face as well, thumbs stroking over Shuu’s cheeks. His face was blurry and beautiful and Shuu blinked, hard, forcing his eyes to clear. He never wanted to look away from the person in front of him. “You know, Shuu, I’m always happiest whenever I’m with you.”

“I --For me as well, when I’m with you….” He swallowed, leaned down, pressed his lips again to Nazuna’s forehead.

“You missed,” Nazuna said, and then he tilted Shuu’s jaw down a fraction of a degree and kissed him. Soft, sweet, slow; Shuu stood still for one perfect eternity as he felt Nazuna’s lips land gentle on his own, and his heart beat so hard he thought it would burst from his chest. If the world had ended then he would’ve gone happy.

And then Nazuna pulled away, still smiling, only there was a tremble to his eyelashes that Shuu didn’t recognize. Ethereal, glowing, silhouetted by the fireflies, Shuu looked at him and felt his heart crack clean in two. “I love you,” he said, voice faint and wispy. “Shuu, I’m really so glad --”

And then there was nothing but glimmering light. His arms closed around it; he just barely managed to keep from crushing the fragments in his palms. “Nazuna,” he said to empty air, and he was smiling too, even though his cheeks ached, even though his eyes burnt, even though his hands shook and shook and shook. “I’m glad too.”

* * *

Coming of Age Day saw sleet; Shuu stood under Kiryuu’s cheap Daiso umbrella and watched it splatter down through clear plastic. By now most of the booths were packing up, light faded and most of the crowds cleared out. Shuu’s family had gone to get the car, leaving him and his childhood friend together in their formal dress under an overhang to avoid the worst of the weather.

Kiryuu was watching Shuu out of the corner of his eye and pretending not to. “What,” Shuu snapped out, finally, as the weather began to finally give up its assault. He tilted the umbrella forward a bit, listened to the sound of the slush hitting the ground. “You’re staring.”

Kiryuu was frowning. It pissed Shuu off. For all their awkward attempts to clear the air and bridge the gaps between them, there were times when it felt like they were young again: Kiryuu’s knuckles purple and bleeding, Shuu’s tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth except when knives chose to rest on it. Kiryuu was always an easy target.

But before he could strike Kiryuu shrugged. “You’ve been quiet since you came back,” he said. His eyes on Shuu were familiar but it took a moment for Shuu to place them, and when he did he felt fury bubble up again in his chest. It was the look Kiryuu had in fights, trying to figure out what move his opponent was going to make next. “Just wondering what’s going on, I guess.”

A car whizzed by; water splattered on the ground at their feet. Shuu wanted to push Kiryuu in the snow. His throat felt tight. “I’m fine,” he said, clipped and short, as he forced the umbrella closed with a decisive  _ snik _ .

“Itsuki,” Kiryuu said, frown deepening, and as he did Shuu’s fingers dug into the handle, white-knuckled to the point of being painful. Why couldn’t he just leave well enough alone? Shuu turned, mouth opening, -- and as he did his eyes caught on something floating up above Kiryuu’s head, and the words dropped out of his mouth.

A firefly. “What the hell,” Kiryuu said, turning to follow Shuu’s line of sight. “How’s this thing still alive?” They watched as it fluttered through the cold air, the brightest thing around despite the streetlights, and without even thinking Shuu reached out a finger.

It landed. He drew it close, slowly, afraid it would fly away. He’d touched bugs before, knew the feeling of their legs crawling on his skin, but this was nothing like that. All he could feel on his finger was warmth. “Nazuna?” he whispered, and as he did it took off again, off again into the night sky.

“Itsuki?” Kiryuu said again. Shuu didn’t look at him. The firefly went higher, and higher, and higher, shrinking with distance until finally Shuu couldn’t see it no matter how hard he tried. And yet on his skin, warmth still lingered.

“...I’m fine,” Shuu said again, finally. He found himself thinking of that same old wish, whispered on every shooting star, written every Tanabata.  _ I want to be with him.  _ Had Nazuna, he wondered, been wishing for the same thing too? 

He stared up, past the darkness towards the far off stars. Untouchable in all ways, physical and otherwise, but there all the same.


	2. into the forest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two takes on a Hotarubi no Mori e AU.  
> Ch. 2:  
> Nazuna was six years old the first time he met him.  
> [Collab Entry for Enstars Shipping Olympics 2019]

Nazuna had been six years old the first time he met _him_ , choking back sobs as he wandered through the forest, holding a short stick in his pudgy hands, twisting and pulling at the leaves.

“Help me,” he called, voice cracking and pitching. “Please! I’m here!”

When his legs felt like jelly, he plopped down, curling up and burrowing his face into his knees, feeling his pants get wet the more he wailed. He can’t remember how long he had been crying there. A few minutes? An hour? Nazuna was young and time trudged on, making him feel more and more helpless.

“Are you lost?” He heard a voice call from in front of him, and Nazuna’s head snapped up, snot running into his mouth and dripping down his chin. There, standing just behind a tree, was a boy. 

_No,_ Nazuna thought. _That’s a man… That’s…. An adult!!!_ He jumps up, instantly running in the man’s direction. “I’m saved!” He shouts, lifting his arms up and jumping to the man’s arms…

Only to fall flat on the ground as the man effortlessly steps out of the way, staring down at Nazuna with a curious look in his eyes. Nazuna spits out dirt, scrambling up to his knees as he glares at the man, taking in his features.  
Purple eyes stared down at him, mouth twisted into a bit of a scowl, eyebrows furrowed. Nazuna blinked and felt his eyes grow wide when he saw the man had pink hair.

“Mister, are you human?” He asks innocently, blinking round red eyes up at the man, who sputtered.

“I’m not old enough to be called mister,” the pink haired man said, casually avoiding the question, waving a hand in the air. “And, please, refrain from touching me.” Nazuna lifted himself up to his feet, waddling over to the man. “H-hey, what are you--” Nazuna tried grabbing at the mans leg, falling over on his face as the man side stepped him.

“If you’re human, let me touch you!” Nazuna said, giggling, repeatedly chasing after the man, falling on his face every time until the man grabbed a stick from the ground and thunked it over Nazuna’s head, making the little boy fall flat on his butt.

“I… Are you okay?” The man asked, watching in horror as Nazuna’s eyes watered and his lips started quaking.

“What was that for?” Nazuna cried out, hands clasping his head, whining as he flopped onto his belly and kicked his legs at the ground.

“You! You weren’t listening!” The man replied, taking the stick and poking at Nazuna’s side. “When someone says don’t touch them, you do as they say.”

“Well, why can’t I touch you, Mister?” Nazuna whines, moving to sit back up. He watches as the man sighs deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I’m a spirit,” he says finally, looking at the young boy, wiggling his fingers. “If a human touches me, I’ll disappear.”

Nazuna stares with wide eyes at the man, a small noise leaving his lips, before he reaches forward and tries grabbing the man’s face. 

He is once again hit over the head.

After a few more minutes of chasing the spirit around, Nazuna becomes tired of getting hit over the head by a tree branch, and finds himself yawning.

“Have you grown tired of trying to kill me, little one?” The man asks, leaning against a tree. Nazuna nods slowly, eyes heavy. “Shall I… guide you to the path?” Nazuna nods again, slowly standing and reaching for the man’s hand, before stopping and blinking down at his own palm. The tall man offers one end of the stick to Nazuna’s dirt covered hand, looking away from the boy when he turns starry eyes at the spirit.

“Thank you, mi--”

“None of that _mister_ business,” he interrupts, huffing. “My name is Shu.”

“Thank you, Shu-nii-san,” Nazuna says, grabbing the stick. “My name’s Nito Nazuna!” Shu nods, clearing his throat before pulling on the stick to get them moving. They walked for a while, hand-in-stick, until they reached the gated steps at the forest’s entrance, where Shu let go of the stick.

“There we are,” he sighs, taking a few steps backwards, watching the boy rush up a few steps before stopping, and rushing back down in front of the spirit.

“Shu-nii-san, can I play with you again tomorrow?” The six-year old asks, blinking wide, innocent eyes at him. Shu’s mouth curls in thought, before he lets out a soft sigh.

“Yes, I suppose we can play again tomorrow,” he replies.

“Shu-nii-san, will this be a date?” he asks excitedly, hands clasping together under his chin.

“Kind of a sucky date,” Shu hums, but his cheeks become ruddy all the same, and Nazuna see’s a small nod hidden in his scoff of indifference.

\--

Nazuna returns to that forest for years, showing off his new school uniform each summer, watching Shu’s face morph into strange expressions as he asked questions about things like Nazuna’s classmates, or teachers, or subjects he learned about. Nazuna always spoke animatedly, and with his age had at least outgrown his desire to try and grab at Shu every ten minutes.

There had been a close call once, when Nazuna was eight and thought climbing a tall tree on his own was a good idea. The branch, as sturdy as it had looked, hadn’t been able to hold his weight, and he fell. Shu’s first instinct had been to try and catch him, but he stopped himself, and watched instead, as Nazuna landed painfully on the ground, hovering as Nazuna slowly sat up, picking leaves and small twigs out of his hair. _That_ had been quite the argument, and ended with Nazuna storming away, tears in his eyes and wondering why he wished that he could have felt Shu’s arms around him.

(He had returned the next day, of course, and found Shu holding a small bundle of flowers, looking embarrassed as he handed them to Nazuna. The young boy snatched them from Shu’s extended hand with a huff, face blushed, before glancing over and asking if the spirit knew how to make flower crowns.)

As the years went on, Nazuna knew he was in love with the elegant spirit he met with every summer, and all he longed for sometimes was to be able to hold onto his hand as they walked at night, or brush his fingers against his shoulder. But… As much as he had always grown up being told spirits weren’t real, and that they were told to make young children frightful of traversing the forest alone, he also knew Shu never had a reason to lie to him, nor a reason to keep it up for so long. When Nazuna was fourteen, he encountered his first _real_ spirit, who threatened to curse Nazuna if he ever touched Shu. Shu had rolled his eyes and told Nazuna that the spirit had more bark than bite, and after a step forward and huff from Nazuna the spirit had transformed into a whimpering fox and run off. 

“Shu-nii-san, was that a spirit?” Nazuna asked, excitedly, hopping up and down like a small bunny. Shu rolls his eyes, nodding, continuing their trek further into the forest. “Wow! My first spirit!”

“Am I nothing but flaming garbage?!”

\--

“A festival?” Nazuna asks, staring up from his fishing line in the water to the pink haired boy next to him. Shu had nodded, holding a small piece of fabric near his face, needle poking in and out of it carefully.

“Yes, it’s an end of summer festival that those in the spirit world hold every year,” he explains, taking his time to change the threads colour, before beginning his work yet again. Nazuna nods slowly, and faces the small river again, biting his lip.

“And… You want me to go with you?” The blonde asks, feeling his face heat up. Shu simply nods his head, not looking away from his needlework, but his face becomes ruddy all the same. “Why this year, suddenly?” Shu finally puts down his work for a second, and his eyes lock on Nazuna’s figure, which has curled up into itself slightly, and his face fights off an obvious smile.

“It _is_ a festival for spirits,” he says. “I was afraid you’d be too frightened to accompany me, but you’re seventeen now, and I figured it was about time to ask you.” Nazuna nods, hands gripping the fishing pole and twisting against it. 

“I’ll go,” he says after a while, still not looking up at Shu, instead focusing his gaze on the line bobbing in the water. The sewing man had frozen for just a second, hand hovering over his fabric before he continued moving.

“Okay,” Shu whispers, focusing again on his work. “Then I shall meet you at our normal spot. Be sure to have festival-wear on.” Nazuna nods, trying to pay attention to the movement of his fishing line, but instead, his mind races with thoughts of a night that has yet to come.

\--

Nazuna rushes out of his summer home once the moon is high over their heads, just as Shu ad told him to, holding his wooden sandals in his hands as to not make any noise, his yukata slightly limiting his sneaky movements, but he makes it in time anyway.

“Shu-nii!” He calls when he sees the pink haired man standing at the base of the stairs, his own yukata carefully laid against his skin.

“Nito,” the boy replies back, a smile breaking out on his face, as he waves. “Are you ready?” Nazuna nods, following behind Shu. The taller boy was holding something in his hands, picking and twisting it, but Nazuna paid it no mind, instead keeping a keen ear, trying to catch noises of the festival.

“Do you go to the festival every year, Shu-nii?” Nazuna asks, his hands clasped behind his back as he basically skips ahead of Shu. 

“No,” the spirit shakes his head, smiling as he watches Nazuna’s bunny-like actions,waving his hand in front of his face. “I don’t tend to go, as sometimes a stray human or two are known to wonder in and participate.” Nazuna nods in understanding, before his ears finally catch the sounds of bubbling laughter.

“Shu-nii!” Nazuna shouts excitedly, pointing in the direction of the noise. “I think we’re getting close!”

The two walk near each other ( _Not near enough to touch. Never near enough for that._ ) and enter the festival, Nazuna’s bright red eyes widening in delight. 

It looks exactly like a human festival, and Shu explains that it’s because none of the spirits wish to draw _that_ much attention to themselves, but there are a few key differences, such as the lights, which dangle freely in the air, not even an illusion of string holding them in place. They walk together for a few minutes, before Nazuna is jostled by a big man, knocking him down onto his ass.

“Ah, Nito, are you okay?” Shu asks worriedly, hovering his hands near Nazuna, but not touching. Nazuna waves his hand, nodding.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he says, standing back up and patting the dirt off his butt. “It sure is hard getting around here.”

“I might have something for that,” Shu says, pulling out a long strip of fabric, handing one end to Nazuna. The small boy grabs it, and stares, noticing a scene embroidered delicately into the fabric. “Don’t pay too much attention to that, it… it isn’t finished.” Nazuna nods, watching as Shu loops an end of the fabric around his own wrist, and then looks at Nazuna expectedly. Nazuna bounces with a start, before following suit, looping the soft fabric on his wrist.

“Ah, if we do this, it’ll almost be like a date,” Nazuna jokes, a smile playing on his lips.

“It is a date,” Shu replies seriously, purple eyes boring into red ones when Nazuna’s head snaps up. They stare at each other for a few seconds until Nazuna’s face flushes with heat, and he snaps his head in a different direction, _any direction_.

“I-Idiot,” Nazuna mumbles, a hand coming up to cover his face. “You c-can’t just say things like that.”

They spend the rest of the night traversing the festival, eating snacks and playing games, the fabric keeping them close all night. They had run around, trying everything they could get their hands on, no matter how gross it may have looked. 

When Nazuna finally couldn’t keep the yawns out of his mouth, Shu suggested they start returning to the forest’s entrance, and while Nazuna didn’t want the time he was spending with Shu to end, he knew there was always tomorrow.

They walked together, fabric still held tightly between them, looking up at the pale moon.

“I wish,” Shu started, making Nazuna turn his gaze to the tall man, who was still looking up at the sky, “many things. But something I wish for more than anything, is the ability to touch you.”

“Sh-Shu-nii!” Nazuna said, embarrassed, face reddening.

“I speak the truth,” Shu said, turning to look at the small boy. “Every time you fell, everytime we played tag. For years, I’ve wanted to feel your embrace around me. While you were young, I imagined these feelings were perhaps, those of an older brother, something I had always desperately wanted to be, but as you grew, and as our friendship formed beyond that of a child and their babysitter, I realised being your brother was the opposite of what I wanted to be for you.”

Nazuna bit his lip, watching Shu begin waving his arm, words growing in volume before shrinking down to nearly unhearable. His friend had always been so dramatic, so many big movements and matching words, but he had always shrunk himself when he was close to Nazuna, afraid a big movement would end up in an accidental touch of skin to skin, and he would disappear.

“Shu-nii, me too, I--” Nazuna started but he was interrupted as two young boys ran between them as they ran out of the festival, one of them nearly tripping before Shu reached forward and grabbed his arm.

“Ah, sorry, misters!” The boy shouted in apology, giving a quick bow, before running off.

“Be careful!” Nazuna shouts after them, laughing. “And stay safe!”

“Nito,” Shu says, a little panic in his voice, and when Nazuna looks back, the smile he had on his face is completely wiped away. Shu’s hand is glowing white at his fingertips, and it looks like sand being blown in the wind. Nazuna suddenly understands.

“Humans!” He cries out, head whipping back to look at the backs of the boys that were so far away now. “Shu, were those humans?” Shu nods, entranced by his hand, his brow furrowed, until he finally smiles, looking at Nazuna and opening his arms.

“Come, my darling Nito,” he says, and Nazuna’s head begins spinning, heart feeling like it’s going to jump out of his chest. “I can finally feel your embrace!” Shu has a smile so wide on his face that it nearly looks painful, but Nazuna laughs, instantly jumping into his arms, arms winding around Shu’s neck.

“Shu-nii, I love you!” He shouts, tears falling from his eyes but lips stretched in a smile. “For years! I’ve loved you for as long as I can remember!”

“And I you, glorious Nito. I’ve loved you since the moment I saw your crying face,” Shu says, spinning them around as the light envelopes his body. “Finally, I can feel your warmth. My Nito, Nito, Nito… My lovely Nazuna.”

Nazuna falls to the ground, hugging Shu’s yukata to his chest, sobs racking through his body as he curls himself around the fabric. Around him, everything feels the same, but his chest aches and he feels like he can’t breathe.

“Young Nito,” a fox spirit emerges from the forest, moving to Nazuna’s crying form. “Do not fret. Our Shu only ever wanted to feel the embrace of a human, but the fear of disappearing stopped him. For his one embrace to be you surely meant more to him than anything you can ever imagine.” Nazuna nods, standing on wobbly legs, collecting Shu’s yukata into his arms, before spotting the fabric Shu had worked diligently on.

Nazuna picks it up with small fingers, stretching it out and sobbing at the embroidered scene before his eyes. He folds it and presses it against his face, willing his legs to begin walking.

Against his face, a pink haired doll sat against a tree, a hand on the head of a small white bunny with bright red eyes and tears dripping from its eyes. _Wasn’t finished?_ Nazuna wonders, curling up again.

“Shu-nii, how could this piece possibly get more perfect?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i stressed out writing this so much and i'm so sorry its not beta read but pls take it it has my blood sweat and tears mixed into it thnk u for ur time
> 
> find me on twitter @kusomatsuboy ! all i do is cry over shunazu and hajime so i'm sure we will all get along
> 
> kudos and comments give me life so pwease,,, feed me..

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote all of this except two lines in about twenty four hours, which is something i'm Never doing again!!
> 
> catch me on twit @yuunamakis for more writing or @hirokiyuus if u just wanna chat! comments/kudos are always appreciated <3


End file.
